The woman who struck two women—leaving one with brain injuries—last month in a Brooklyn hit-and-run finally turned herself in. Frances Jasmin surrendered at the 77th Precinct and was arrested and charged with "leaving the scene of the accident which resulted in serious injury."
Erinn Phelan and Alma Guerrero had been crossing at Flatbush and Prospect Place when an Acura Legend hit them; Guerrero, 23, suffered a broken collarbone, while Phelan, 22, was severely injured and is currently in a coma. The police found the abandoned car and tracked it down to owner Cindy Jasmin, who said that her sister Frances was driving—and that she was in psychiatric hospital because she was distraught.
The Post reports that while cops questioned Cindy Jasmin's claim that her sister was the driver, later "investigators began to give her story more credence after records placed Jasmin's cellphone in the vicinity of Prospect Heights shortly after the Feb. 21 accident, sources said. Cops also spoke to someone who told of receiving a phone call shortly after the accident from Jasmin, who said, 'I just hit two people.'"
A lawyer for Frances Jasmin, who is being held on $300,000 bond or $150,000 cash bail, said, "She's not been on the run or in hiding. She didn't know what she hit and then when she finally knew she was at the hospital the next day." And Cindy Jasmin told the Daily News, "As much as we're going through it, it's even tougher for" the victims' families.
Phelan is a coordinator in the mayor's volunteerism effort; Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday, "Today the New York City Police Department made an arrest in the hit-and-run case that has left Erinn Phelan clinging to life. Erinn is a fighter, and all of us here at City Hall — and from around the city — are pulling and praying for her."
